Tag: general

How Smiling Affects Your Health


A smile may seem simple, but it is more powerful than you might think. It has an impact on your happiness, self-esteem, and overall health. So, let’s review how a smile can bring joy into your life during these uncertain times.

Benefits of Smiling

Everybody knows what it’s like to have a bad day. You sleep late, the car gives you trouble, or you spill coffee in your lap. But if you run into someone who is smiling, before you know it, you’re smiling, too. Then that bad day doesn’t seem so bad. A simple smile can change the tone and course of your day.

Here’s something you might not know—smiling has been proven scientifically to make you happy. And it can do more than that.

Elevates Your Mood

A smile not only makes you look happy, but it can also make you feel happy, as well. When you’re smiling, facial muscles trigger neurotransmitters into your system that make you feel great. These include endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine.  Endorphins make you relax and feel happy and act as a suppressant for discomfort or stress. Serotonin and dopamine are the natural antidepressant molecules of the brain, and we now know that smiling makes you create more of these.

Decreases Stress

We’ve all been under stress. But perhaps we don’t know that smiling can help relieve stressors by causing serotonin release. Smiling will increase serotonin levels, decrease anxiety, and lower the heart rate. So, the next time you feel stress come on, try smiling or watching a short video that will make you laugh. You may be surprised how much of a difference this can make.

Boosts Your Immune System

Smiling can leave us feeling less depressed and more positive whether the act is fake or real. This has been proven through scientific studies. Other tests have determined that smiling makes our bodies more resilient to the flu or common cold. Participants in these studies report that they feel more positive and happier and have a lower risk of becoming sick. One research study even suggests that smiling will help us live longer.

It’s Contagious

We’ve all heard the axiom, “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” And we know it’s true because we see it in our lives. When someone smiles at us, we return the smile. The reaction is called facial mimicry. When we see someone smile, our brain registers the expression, and we’re likely to return it.

So, a smile can boost your mood and help others’ moods as well. Your smile could start a chain reaction that can influence an entire room.

Smiling Impacts Your Appearance and Confidence

Now let’s get to something we all would like to experience. Did you know that smiling can affect your appearance? It makes you look approachable, relaxed, and friendly. And get this, it makes you look younger, too. Now, if that’s not a selling point to smile more—what is?

Smiling makes you seem more open to others. This will have people wanting to spend time with you. And having more friends will increase your confidence and elevate your self-esteem.

Oral Health is Good for Your Overall Health

At Hill Country Oral Surgery in Austin, we understand that a healthy mouth helps you with a healthy body. That’s why we tell our patients to get regular oral check-ups to maintain overall health. If you would like to learn more about attaining a confident smile, we would love to talk to you.

Call us at 512-327-7233 or Request a Consultation.

COVID-19: How We are Taking Precautions

We know this is a stressful and uncertain time for many of our patients. At Hill Country Oral Surgery, we want to let all of our patients know that we are taking every precaution necessary to maintain a safe environment for all.

Because we truly value our patients’ health and safety above all, we would like to be transparent and share the steps we’ve taken to provide the safest environment possible:

Patient Screenings

We thoroughly screen all of our patients prior to appointments for all COVID-19 risk factors. We will ask every patient a series of questions that will prevent at-risk patients from having in-person meetings.

No Waiting Rooms

In an effort to maintain social distancing measures, we’ve closed our waiting rooms entirely. You will now pass right by the front desk and waiting room to your own suite.

Trained Staff

Our staff is aware of and fully trained in the recommended contact precautions. We will not cut any corners and follow precautionary instructions by the number.

Sanitized Suites

Our staff will adequately sanitize rooms in between patient visits. You will only enter areas that are sterile and completely safe.

Surgery Precautions

We will complete our surgeries with high volume suction and air filtration. Additionally, we provide our entire surgical team with proper PPE and N95 masks, as recommended by the FDA.

A Message from Hill Country Oral Surgery

We sincerely hope that you are staying safe and healthy during this trying time and want to thank you for your ongoing support of Hill Country Oral Surgery. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please feel free to contact us or call our office at 512-327-7233.

New Year, New You: Dental Health Resolutions

Good dental and oral care is a vital part of your great smile and offers so many benefits. So, now is the perfect time to resolve to protect your teeth.

While we at Hill Country Oral Surgery are happy, able, and highly qualified to help you with your oral surgery needs, we also hope to see you maintain positive oral health overall. To learn more about how Hill Country Oral Surgery can help you with oral surgery in Austin, TX, reach out today to schedule a consultation. 

Consistent Brushing and Flossing

Regular daily care can prevent gingivitis, periodontitis, tooth decay, and halitosis. Here are some reminders for optimally removing bacterial plaque, which often causes these problems.

  • Brush at least twice a day using a soft-bristle manual or electric toothbrush, sized appropriately. Hold your brush at a 45-degree angle aimed at the gum line and brush gently. Brushing your teeth too hard can cause pitting and erosion of gums. Replace your brush every 3-4 months or after a cold or other contagious illness.
  • Toothpaste should be fluoridated and, if gums and teeth are sensitive, find a formula that numbs irritated nerve endings that may also cause you to avoid hot and cold foods. Many kinds of toothpaste actually help mineralize your teeth’s enamel, so choose a fortifying formula, especially if you use whitening products.
  • Floss at least once a day, especially after eating. One effective alternative to flossing is the disposable soft pick with little rubbery bristles. Tiny interdental brushes also work well, especially with orthodontia. Pre-threaded floss picks can make flossing molars easy. Or consider a water-flossing device.
  • Use an antimicrobial and fluoride mouth-rinse daily to improve your overall oral health. 

Make Healthy Choices in your Food, Beverages, and Habits

Regular consumption of carbohydrates and acids 3-5 times a day (including snacks) creates an oral environment that nourishes tooth decaying organisms and leaches minerals, subtly pitting your enamel. One solution is to replace cookies and chips at snack time with veggies like snow peas, celery, and jicama.

Brushing and flossing after meals and snacks are the ideal solutions, but if that’s too inconvenient, flossing alternatives (see above) can help. Also, consider chewing a Xylitol-containing gum or lozenge afterward to neutralize acids and reduce bacteria and plaque buildup. You can try drinking smart water that is Ph balanced.

Recent research suggests that good bacteria may also be removed along with the bad while using mouthwash, so consider adding a probiotic or frequently eating yogurt or other foods with live cultures.

Avoid eating sticky sweets and drinking sodas, coffee, red wine, and sweet juices. Bad habits like chewing ice and hard candy, biting your nails, clenching your jaw, and grinding your teeth can damage enamel. You can help prevent gum disease and tooth loss by quitting smoking. 

Stay Current with your Dental Checkups

Anomalies

We at Hill Country Oral Surgery strongly urge regular dental checkups because your dentist pays special attention to anomalies such as signs of oral cancer. A checkup will include examining your gums, tongue, neck, jaw, and lymph nodes for any swelling, lumps, or other abnormalities that could signal a major health issue. Your mouth and the surrounding area can be an important early-warning system. 

By x-raying your teeth and jaw bone dental professionals can see what’s going on beneath the surfaces, such as impacted wisdom teeth, possible bone decay, swelling, cysts, or tumors. Early detection is critical and enables your surgeon at Hill Country to maximize the outcome.

Prevention

Plaque that hardens into tartar can occur despite diligent oral care, so the smart old adage about an ounce of prevention besting a pound of cure is especially true regarding dental checkups. They include thorough and professional teeth cleaning, which helps prevent decay, the erosion of gum tissues, subsequent gingivitis infections, and the loosening or loss of teeth—all of which would call for drastic treatment methods.